the Guardian Forces in school
by Tyret Varkim
Summary: After the last Sorceress War, children were born bearing marks resembling Guardians Forces, which they were then named after. Now those teenagers are attending the same school. Come right in and meet them!
1. Arriving at the school

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy and I do not own the characters.**

A/N: Seeing as this fic contains mentions of several different couples/pairings, I have not listed any specific ones in the description. You'll discover them as the story goes along. I have pairings for everyone's taste. (Though in this chapter I believe only homosexual pairings are mentioned)

Enjoy the first chapter :)

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Two teenagers climbed off the bus and looked at the building that stood on the other side of the street. The School of Alternate Learning. That was the name of the place where their mother had enrolled them. The two had been homeschooled most of their lives, and now she suddenly had decided to let her boys grow up on their own.

However, neither seemed especially happy about it. Leviathan didn't think that making them go to a boarding school was the best idea as it meant exposing his younger brother to the teasing of other students. Alexander was a bright fourteen year-old who, after kindergarten, had skipped two grades to end up in his older brother's class. Kids can be especially mean, and Alexander was subject to many mockeries and bullying.

One boy, two years older than Leviathan, went too far one day and the protective older brother picked a fight which ended with the other boy going to the hospital for a broken arm and what was suspected to be a severe concussion. Leviathan had immediately been expelled, and so his mother had decided to home school him. Alexander had refused to stay in school without Leviathan and so she had him taken out of school as well.

Leviathan had thought that it was the perfect arrangement, Alex would be safe from other students, yet he would still learn a great deal from their mother. But her sudden decision to send the teens to this _special_ school frustrated Lev, who could not even begin to understand why his mother would do such a thing. And as he thought about all this he never realized that he was grumbling out loud. Alexander hit him gently on the arm with his book.

"Mother isn't doing this to hurt us. I loved learning with her, but to tell you the truth I was starting to miss talking to people my age, or at least close to it. Don't you want to make friends too, Lev?"

"Why would I want to make friends?"

In truth, Leviathan also was curious to see how well he'd be able to make friends, and he did feel like his role of father figure for Alex was becoming a little heavy on his shoulders. However, he would never admit that to his little brother, so he decided to just stop complaining. They crossed the street and showed the two men guarding the door their student passes. They had to wait while one man checked with the principal, who then said over the radio that he'd be right over to escort the two new students. A few minutes later, a tall dark skinned man arrived at the gate, which was promptly opened to let the teenagers in.

"Welcome to SAL. The last time I saw you boys was shortly after you were born, Alex. You were probably too young to remember me, Leviathan. I'm Kiros Seagill, I run the school."

"I've seen pictures of you. Our mother has a few pictures of you and of the others who helped save the planet during the last Sorceress war. You're President Loire's husband now if I'm correct," said Alex.

"We never got married, but we do feel like we are sometimes. At least we have the arguments of a married couple from time to time," said Kiros with a smile.

The three stepped into the main building and the teenagers looked up. The hall was four stories high, and you could see the other floors. Sometimes you could also see people if they were near the railing. A staircase was on the right, and an elevator was beside it. Kiros gave them a moment to look before asking them to follow him to his office. They walked straight ahead, passing a few classes before arriving at the end of the corridor, where a giant was guarding the door. Alexander's eyes widened as he recognized the man.

"Sir, is that Ward Zabac? He hasn't changed at all from the pictures!"

Kiros laughed. "Yes, Ward does seem to be eternally young, but appearances are deceiving. He's having as hard a time with aging as I am. He can't lift his weapon anymore, though he wished he could. I'm luckier, my weapons have always been light, so I can still train with them if I don't overexert myself."

The man invited them inside and the two teens took a seat on the chairs that were in front of the desk. Kiros also took a seat, and he reached into a drawer to get the two's folders.

"So your mother tells me you've both been homeschooled for a few years."

"Yeah, I was expelled after I beat up an idiot who wouldn't leave Alex alone."

"I couldn't go on in school without Lev, so I was homeschooled too. Mother hasn't directly told us why she is sending us here, but I think it might be so that we can be with people close to our age."

"She hasn't given me a reason either, so your guess is as good as mine. But I do know your mother would only do things for your benefit. Well, in any case, you arrived just in time. Things may be a little hectic with classes starting tomorrow, but almost all students have arrived already so there will be plenty of people to help you settle in. I know someone who just finished putting his things away, so he'll be able to show you your rooms, and then give you a tour," said Kiros as he took out a cell phone and speed dialed someone.

"I must point out that you will not be sharing the same room," he added.

Leviathan narrowed his eyes, but Alexander calmed him by putting his hand on his brother's arm. "That should be alright. We will have our classes together thought, right?"

"Most of them. There are some classes that you will have separate, but only because you don't both need them. Also, magic tutoring is done one-on-one with the teacher, so those will be separate as well."

Alexander nodded. "That will be good. I have a question not related to classes."

"Go ahead."

"I'm not sure if you'll have an answer, but it's worth a try. Our mother talked to us about the other children, the ones named after the Guardian Forces, but she never mentioned who had them. When she talked about them it was only briefly. I was wondering if there was a reason why she never said anything more."

Kiros was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, after the Sorceress war, many of us went our separate ways. We didn't see each other much at first, keeping touch mostly through letters. Then we started visiting each other, but your mother never really seemed interested in reconnecting with everyone. But she did allow me to visit one, which is the the only reason why I saw you boys when you were young. She must have had her reasons."

"I see. So all the Guardian Forces children were born to the saviors? And are any of those now-teenagers here at the school?"

"All were born to someone who was somehow associated with the Sorceress War. And you two are the last ones to join the school. Most of the other children have been here since they were in sixth grade. You'll get to meet them soon enough. In fact you'll get to meet one in a minute. One of my sons will be showing you around."

The door was thrown open, and an older teen came in, glaring over his shoulder at Ward. Then, the redhead turned to Kiros.

"Why did you text me? And tell the ape to leave me alone."

Ward tried to hit the teen, but this one caught his hand easily.

"Stop trying to break my skull, Zabac."

"Stand down, Ward. What did he do to make you angry?"

"Hey, why do you think I started it? He's the one who's trying to kill me," said the teen.

Kiros rolled his eyes at his son. "Ward wouldn't start something. Now what did you do, Ifrit?"

"I tell a harmless joke about what mom does when he misses you too much, and the gorilla wants me dead."

"And what exactly did you say that Laguna does?"

Ifrit raised an eyebrow. "You want me to say it in front of the kids?"

"Hmm, no. Whatever you said, don't say it again."

"So, why did you text me?"

"I want you to give these two a tour. Show them their rooms, and the school."

"And where are you putting them?"

"I'd like to have Alex with Carbuncle, and Leviathan with Quetz."

"Fine, I'll help you this time. But just so you know, you interrupted a very productive meeting I was having."

"But I _don't_ want to know," said Kiros, pretending to be looking for something important. He raised his head soon enough thought. "Are you at least protected?"

"Dad!"

"What? It's my job as a father to make sure you're safe, right?"

Ifrit shook his head and motioned for the other teens to get up. "I'll go take care of the task you gave me, then I'm coming back and you and I are going to talk."

"Isn't the adult supposed to say that? You're reversing the roles."

"I'm not reversing the roles, father. We are going to talk about me, but if you want me to be the parent, we can discuss you and mom's habits. For old men, you still go at it fairly often. I'm kinda scared I'm going to get another brother."

"Ifrit, don't talk about Laguna and I so openly!" exclaimed Kiros, trying to hide a blush. "We're too old to have another child anyway, so you should worry about getting another cousin, not about getting another sibling."

"Is Seifer still trying to convince Squall to get pregnant again? If he wants another kid that bad, he should offer to be the mother this time around. After giving birth to bitch and bitchier, I can understand why Squall doesn't want to play mother again."

"Seifer doesn't think pregnancy would suit him."

"He's scared, that's all he is. Well, I'll get going for real now. Come on, guys," said Ifrit, motionning at the brothers.

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A/N: Hope you like it so far :) Chapter 2 should be up within a week.


	2. Taking a tour, part 1

A/N: I don't have much to say, except that I hope you enjoy the second chapter :)

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Leviathan and Alexander followed him out of the office, and Ifrit first led them outside. The yard was busier than it had been when the brothers arrived. Ifrit waved at another redhead who had been reading a book, and this one approached them slowly.

"Hey Phoenix, where's your brother? Is he still in his room? It's too bad I was busy, or I would have talked to him for sure," said Ifrit, referring to his roommate.

"I'm not sure where he is now. I saw him a minute ago, and he did say something about celebrating the beginning of the school year."

"Guess I won't be able to find him then. Thanks."

"No problem," said Phoenix before looking up at the sky. "That's strange. It's turning. I wonder why." Then, without explaining to the three what he meant, Phoenix left.

"Don't mind him, he's always saying weird stuff like that. We rarely get to know what he means, and when he does explain it usually doesn't make sense either."

They got to the dormitory and first got to the room where Alex would be staying. Ifrit knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He tried again, with no luck.

"Hey Carbuncle! I know you're in there, I can feel you using your power. Open up," demanded Ifrit as he frowned.

"His power should be healing and protection, right? Why do you think he's using his powers now?"

"I don't know, Alex. However, I intend to find out."

Ifrit broke open the door, and stepped inside the small sort of living room. He did not find Carbuncle there. There were two doors on the back wall, and Ifrit headed for the one on the left. Alexander and Leviathan followed him. Carbuncle was sitting on the floor of his room, healing his arm.

"What happened, Chibi?"

"Eden was destroying stuff, and I got hit by a flying piece of debris. I'm fine thought, it wasn't a serious cut."

"You should still go see Dr. Kadowaki. Just in case."

The short teen nodded and got up. He smiled at Alexander. "You must be my new roommate. We'll have to get to know each other later, sorry to have to leave so suddenly."

"It's ok."

Carbuncle smiled even more and left the room. Alex turned to Ifrit.

"Is the doctor the same as in Balamb?"

Ifrit shook his head and smiled. "No, Josie did work here for a while, but she decided to take a well deserved vacation. There is no way you will hear her admit that it's retirement. It's her daughter Illya who's running the infirmary now. She just got out of medical school. You can drop your stuff, then we'll keep going. You'll have plenty of time to unpack before tomorrow."

As Alexander went to put away his bags, Ifrit tried to talk with Leviathan.

"So big brother, do you think Carbuncle is going to be a good roommate for your sibling? You don't seem too trusting."

Leviathan frowned. "Don't try to read me. And Carbuncle's fine. But what about that Eden person? Hang around Carbuncle much?"

"Not at all. Chibi just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eden likes to destroy things, but he usually does so away from people."

Alex was quickly back, and they left the room. Ifrit closed the door as best as he could and reminded himself to warn the maintenance crew that it needed to be fixed. They headed up a flight of stairs, and upstairs they bumped into a grey-haired teen that was hurrying down the corridor. Ifrit grabbed this one by the waist, but the other hit him and escaped the redhead's grasp.

"Fuck off, Ifrit. I'm running away from Shiva."

"You can go hide in my room if you'd like. My roommate is gone, and won't be back for a while."

"I wouldn't go anywhere near Diablos' room, and I certainly won't go in yours. What makes you think I'll fuck with you when I know damn well you're fucking with three other people? I don't get with people who sleep around."

"I ain't sleeping around. I only have one lover, and it's a temporary thing. He'll last until I get either you or Diablos in my clutches."

The other teen shook his head. "See, that's another thing. You're after Diablos. You know, that's a major turn-off."

"If I stopped chasing after Diablos, would you give me a chance?"

"Hell no!"

"Then you're straight, uh?"

"I'm not saying that. If I say I'm gay to avoid Shiva, you'll be after me even more. If I say I'm straight to get you off my case, then Shiva's going to ambush me, and possibly rape me as well. No, I'm not straight and I'm not gay. I'm not bi either. I'm an asexual being, and you should both leave me the heck alone. Now out of my way."

"Don't be like that, Griever."

"Fuck off."

Griever pushed Ifrit to the side and started going down the stairs, but before he got down halfway, he turned around and looked at Alex and Leviathan.

"Hyne, you're lucky you're too young to be hounded by Ifrit and Shiva. The worst thing is, they seem to have the same taste in men, so if one is interested in you, you know the other's not far behind. You're really lucky to be too young for him."

Ifrit rolled his eyes. "I'd do a sixteen year-old if he was interested. After all, I was after you last year, right?"

Griever groaned and left without adding anything else. Leviathan raised an eyebrow.

"Just so we're on the same page, I'm not interested," he said, smiling a little.

Ifrit patted him on the back with a smile. "So you're not a complete grouch after all. You still have hope, kid."

"Just don't call me kid, or I won't be in a good mood anymore."

Alexander smiled. His brother would fit in pretty well after all. "So who is Leviathan going to be sharing a room with?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot what we were doing. Leviathan, you're with Carbuncle's brother, Quetzalcoatl. It's right around the corner.

This time, they found the door to the room wide open, and Quetz was on the floor, with books and papers sprawled out around him. He didn't look up when Ifrit came in, but all three heard him gently tell the redhead to get out.

"I'm bringing your new roommate. Oh, and Chibi went to the infirmary for a minor scratch on his arm. He was hit by flying remnants of whatever Eden was destroying."

"Do you think I should go see him?"

"No, it was a really small scratch. He had it healed when we found him. So Quetz, this is your roommate, Leviathan, and that's Alex, his brother. He's staying with Chibi."

Quetz got up to shake the brothers' hand.

"Sorry for the mess. I hope it won't be too much of a bother. That's how I study."

Leviathan shrugged. "It should be ok. I'm more of a library type of guy, so we probably won't be in each other's way."

Leviathan made his way through the room without disturbing any of the papers, and dropped off his stuff in his room. Then he came back, and the trio made its way out of the dormitory. As Ifrit lead them towards a building closer to the main one, he explained more about the layout of the school.

"The main building is where most of the classes are located. That's also where the offices and maintenance crew are. The building we just left is the dormitory, it only has the rooms and one of the security offices. Those are scattered throughout the campus. Every student has to be back on campus by ten, unless they have permission from my dad to be out later. There is a curfew, but it only means that students have to be on campus, they're allowed to go around at night if they want. That's why we have as much security during the night as we do during the day. Some students go to the library to study, some have weird clubs going on at night. Now this building here has the gym, the infirmary, the library, the cafeteria, and more stuff you'll figure out later. We won't go in unless you want to see something."

"I don't want to go in, but how big is the library?" asked Alex.

"Right now it's tiny. There's some construction being done in the actual library, so meanwhile the librarian is settled in a classroom, in the main building, with the most frequently used books. The rest of the books are in a warehouse out back, so it's not really accessible. If students need a space to study, the cafeteria is going to be the only large room available for the next month. Alright, if that's all for questions let's m-"

"YOU IDIOT! THAT'S RIGHT, RUN THE FUCK AWAY, IMBECILE! YOU'RE WORSE THAN YOUR FATHER WAS AT YOUR AGE, I OUGHT TO CASTRATE YOU TO TEACH YOU A LESSON!"

A door on the side of the building was thrown open, and a teen with green spiky hair came running out, followed immediately by a purple haired girl who had been the one screaming. The green haired one looked over his shoulder as he ran around.

"Don't react like that, Mona. It was innocent, I swear."

"INNOCENT MY ASS! YOU WERE SPYING ON US WHEN WE WERE IN THE LOCKER ROOM! I WOULDN'T CALL THAT INNOCENT! DON'T STOP RUNNING IF YOU WANT TO HAVE KIDS IN THE FUTURE, I'M NOT WARNING YOU AGAIN, THIS TIME I'M TAKING ACTION!"

The spy was now running around Ifrit and the brothers, until the eighteen year old got tired of it.

"Pandemona, stop right now. Cactuar, stand still."

Cactuar stopped in his tracks, but Pandemona took this to her advantage and she tackled the older teen.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Ifrit pulled the fourteen year-old off and held her away from Cactuar. "You'll do no such thing, Mona. Now calm down, and put this on, will you?" he said, taking off his shirt and handing it to her. "Cactuar, report to Kiros right now."

Cactuar got up and nodded before running off. Then, Ifrit turned to Pandemona.

"What possessed you to chase after him while you have no shirt on?"

"HE WAS SPYING ON THE GIRLS!"

"I get that, please stop screaming. Doesn't explain why you'd chase after him with no shirt on, without even a _bra_ on! Who else was in there while he was spying?"

"A few girls from my grade, and some new girls, one I think is your age. Siren was there too."

"Did she see him?"

"She was the first one to see him. When she yelled his name, I finally noticed where he was hiding, and that's when I began to chase him."

"Didn't bother to grab a shirt before you did?"

"Look, I've been raised with two brothers, I consider myself one of the guys. I only use the girls' locker room cause I don't have a dick, ok? As far as I'm concerned, I don't care whether I wear a shirt or not. As for a bra, you'll never get me in one."

"Fu's been too lenient on you. I don't care if you're one of the guys, the fact still remains that you have boobs my dear, and that means you need a bra."

"NO FUCKING WAY."

"Stop screaming. Now you're going to go report to Kiros too."

"WHAT THE FUCK FOR? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"For fuck's sake, stop screaming. You're going to report to Kiros for indecent exposure. Now off with you."

Pandemona glared at Ifrit, but did as he said. He would know if she had disobeyed, and that would have led to something worse than visiting the principal.

"Sorry about that, guys. Things are really crazy around here sometimes. I don't know what the security personnel would do without me. They're not allowed to intervene in discipline, they can only butt in if things are dangerous. Some exceptions do apply, of course. I guess I'm going to have to go grab a shirt."

Ifrit looked around and spotted Cactuar's brother not too far off. "Hey Tonberry, come here a sec."

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A/N: I know chapters are kind of on the short side, but I find it easier to manage this way. Part 2 of the tour should be up in the next few days.  
(And at the end of the next chapter, in the author notes, I'll give some info about the teens' families.)

And don't be shy, leave comments please :) Or else it will start feeling a bit lonely in here, lol


	3. Taking a tour, part 2

N/A: Small recap of the end of last chapter, Pandemona was running, shirtless, after Cactuar the lockerroom-spy. Ifrit gave her his shirt and now has to leave Alex and Lev with Tonberry.  
Warning, this chapter has allusions to what happens/could happen between closed doors. Enjoy!

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The teen was even shorter than Carbuncle, and he looked out of place. His height and his big bright eyes made him look like a child.

"Could you keep these two company while I go get a shirt? And maybe you should write to your dad about the locker room incident. Spiky's been getting into a lot of trouble, and the school year hasn't even officially started!"

"I know," said the teen softly. "I'll write, but I don't know what good it will do. Maybe you should get someone to spy on him, and show him what it's like. Make sure it's a guy spying on him, cause if it's a girl he'll just show off."

"Pretty good idea. I'll think about that. I'll be back in a jiffy."

The three went to sit on a bench and Tonberry introduced himself. "I'm Tonberry Kinneas, it's nice to meet you both."

Alexander smiled. "I'm Alex Trepe, and that's my brother Leviathan. Say, what are your parents like? We've been told a bit about them, but not much."

"Well, my mother is always so full of energy and just has to be doing something constantly. My father always liked to flirt, and he still does it. But my mom knows he'd never cheat on her. And although our father never really was the type to spy on girls while they're changing, Cactuar is always being compared to him. And your mother? Likewise, I have heard little about her. All I know is that she now has her own successful line of teaching material."

"She's really smart and serious. But I feel sadness from her too. She always looks more happy in her old photos than she does now."

"Yeah, I didn't know she went as far as cutting herself off from her friends after the war. It's strange, but I don't understand her," said Leviathan.

"I don't understand mother either. However, I know she always does things for a reason."

Tonberry nodded gently. "My mother always said _Quisty knows what she's doing. And if she doesn't want to see us, then let's not go see her. But that doesn't mean I'll stop writing,_" he imitated.

"Is that what she really sounds like?" asked Alex, amazed by the imitation.

Tonberry nodded. "I've been told I'm good at imitating voices. Although I need to hear the person talk for a few days before I really know all there is to know about how they speak, like the intonation, the speed, the emotion. That's why I can't imitate Siren, she doesn't speak a lot, so I don't really know all those details."

Ifrit was back rapidly, and he thanked the teen for keeping the other two company. "So let's keep going on with the tour. I'll show you the classrooms and the computer lab in the main building."

So they went back to where they started, but instead of going forward into the corridor that led to Kiros' office they went up the stairs to the second floor.

"This floor only has classrooms, but there was one I wanted to show you. It's the class were the one-on-one courses with the magical trainer take place."

The class was on the far end of the floor, and it was so large that you could almost call it a gym. Tables were set up on one side, while the other half held various training devices, like dummies and machines that could detect how much magic was being used.

"You'll have two months of mandatory meetings with the Magical Trainer, or MT, and then depending on how well you've progressed you might have a few more months. If you don't need more training, you can still schedule meetings if you want to practice certain things or if you just want a match with the teacher. I always thought it was a pretty cool room."

"Do you think two months will be enough to develop our abilities? We so rarely used them before."

"Two months should be plenty of time. I'm not worried. Let's move on to the next floor, that's where the computer lab is. After that we'll be done and we can get your schedules from my dad. Then you'll be free to go around without me."

As they approached the lab, someone appeared out of nowhere and pushed Ifrit to the wall. The brothers stepped up to help, but Ifrit raised his hand to stop them.

"It's fine, just don't come too close. If something happens, go see Kiros, he'll explain everything."

Then, Ifrit turned his head to the other and smiled. "Nice to see you, Diablos."

"Your dad texted you so you could show the twerps around?" said Diablos, giving a disdainful glance at the two younger teens.

"No, my dad texted me so I could show the school to two new students. I don't know where you see twerps, but you should get your eyes checked. Or better yet, have something else checked. I'll play doctor. Tonight, maybe?"

Diablos huffed. "I just dropped by to tell you to make sure your lover doesn't enter my room again, or you can plan on becoming a necrophile."

"I don't control him, you can warn him yourself. And anyway, he wouldn't be my lover if you gave in to me, and therefore he wouldn't be in our _apartment_ in the first place."

"Just give him the message, or else."

Diablos put a hand around Ifrit's neck and started choking him, but at the same time he kissed the redhead roughly. This was over quickly, and Diablos disappeared. Ifrit didn't seem to find it unusual that he had almost been choked to death by a classmate, and he simply rolled his eyes.

"Why did he do that?" asked Leviathan with a frown.

"He's a fucking tease. He'll kiss me, or feel me up and then refuse to give me more. As for the choking, I think that's just his style. Hard to say if he means it as a menace or if he's sadistic. I've spent six years in school with him, and I still don't really know him. But Hell, do I want to fuck him!"

"I may not know much about these things, but it looks to me like he wants it to be the other way around," pointed out Alex.

"You're probably right, but I'm not going to give a guy that chance, not even to the guy I want more than anything. Word of advice, don't talk to Diablos, it's the best way of keeping yourself safe from him. Also, if you can avoid it, don't mention him in conversations. He's a master of space bending, he can appear wherever he wants, and he can make sound travel too, so even if he's not there he may still be listening. Anyway, onwards we go."

Only one person was in the computer lab when they arrived, and Ifrit went to kick the guy's chair. "You have a death wish, Gil?"

"What makes you say that?" asked Gilgamesh, his eyes constantly glued on his computer screen.

"Diablos warned me that I may find a corpse in my bed in the future. Apparently you got into his room."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? What do you mean, _so?_ You know it's suicide to enter Diablos' room, even I'm not bold enough to do that."

Gilgamesh stopped typing and turned around to look at Ifrit, a smile playing on his lips. "I'm surprised I wasn't killed on the spot. After you left, I decided to just sneak a peak in his room. I wasn't even going to go in. Guess what I saw?"

"What did you see?"

Gil's smile grew. "The guy was jerking off while listening to us. Well, listening to you since I'm such a quiet lover."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! Was he really?"

"Hey, would I lie to you? This means he's interested, and that he needs a good fuck. Badly. You still got a shot, if you play your cards faster and better than Shiva. Personally, I think Diablos is gay. He never teased Shiva the way he does with you."

"Heck, you just made a good day even better. I should reward you for that."

"How about trying to include me when you finally get Diablos in bed with ya? He scares the Hell out of me, but I think he'd be worth it."

"He better be, I better not have spent four years of my life chasing after him for nothing. Shit, I'm neglecting my duties as a tour guide again, aren't I?" said Ifrit as he turned back to the brothers.

Leviathan shrugged a shoulder, while Alex smiled gently. "It's alright, it's nice to see how you interact with everyone. So is sex a frequent topic of conversation around here?" asked the youngest.

"Depends. Among the older students it's more frequent. Among the students your age, there's the occasional story about a fourteen year old getting with someone, but it's not as frequent as you would think. So unless you hang out with older people you won't run the risk of being stuck in a conversation on the topic."

"We can go back to the principal's office on our own if you want to keep talking," suggested Lev.

Ifrit shook his head. "I'll go back down with you. I did tell my dad him and I would have a talk, right? I'll see you later, Gil."

"Yeah, later."

The three went back downstairs and Ifrit almost got beheaded by Ward again, but he managed to make it through the door in one piece. Alex and Leviathan got their schedules without delay, and then Ifrit sat down.

"Did my two troublemakers come to see you?"

Kiros nodded. "I told both of them to come back tomorrow after class for their detention. Cactuar was here only a minute. When Pandemona arrived, she had already taken off the shirt you gave her. She wouldn't put it back on, so I menaced to call her mother and that seemed to work. So, now that it's only you and me, what was that joke you made about Laguna earlier?"

"Oh, it wasn't as bad as some other jokes I made. I really don't see why Ward got all fired up about it. All I said was that if mom missed you too much, he would probably lock himself in the conference room with the three large television screens and take care of business while watching the commercial you made for the school. After all, that's the only video of you available."

Kiros laughed. "That's actually a good one. Now let's talk about you. I think I can guess, but with whom were you having your productive _meeting_?"

"Well, Gil of course. I'm still nowhere close to getting Griever or Diablos. And to answer your question from earlier, yes we're protected. Not much more to say really. Unless you'd like to have a detailed account of what we were doing."

"No, that won't be necessary. While you're here, I need your opinion on something."

"Go right ahead."

"Ellone is planning on taking over for Laguna as President."

"I know, she's been talking about it for five years."

"Well, it might happen soon, and when she takes over, Laguna wants to come live here during the school year like I do. I'm not sure whether that's a good idea or not."

"I say get him to take an apartment not too far from here, and he can come see you during the day. Once the students are used to seeing him on campus, then he can think of moving in with you. It could be as short as two months, or it could take two years, but I don't think it's a good idea for him to come live on campus right away."

"I knew he shouldn't come straight away, but I wasn't sure what to tell him. I don't want to just say no to him."

"Sometimes you have to say no. You know he won't like the idea of taking an apartment, but you'll just have to be firm with him. Let him know who's boss."

"I'm the man of the house, and you know that."

"Of the house, yes. Of the bed…"

Kiros hid his face in his hands and shook his head. "A child should not know so much about his parents' sex life."

* * *

A/N: Ok, so here is the family info I talked about last chapter. I'll mention only the people we have seen so far (even if the story makes it obvious who their parents are). Any new character, I will tell you about them in whatever chapter they appear in.

Leviathan and Alexander are Quistis' children, father is unknown.

Ifrit is Laguna and Kiros child. (Laguna is the "mother" in this case)

Carbuncle and Quetzacoatl are Zell and Lissy's children. Remember the Library Girl in the game? I called her Lissy :)

Phoenix and Diablos are Rinoa's children, father is unknown.

Pandemona, she's Fujin and Raijin's only daughter.

Cactuar and Tonberry are Irvine and Selphie's kids.

Gilgamesh, is one of Ellone's sons. Father is unknown.

Griever is Edea and Cid's child (he has a brother, but you'll see who it is later. Oooh, or perhaps some of you might like to guess... here's a hint, they occasionally fight like cat and dog).

**Again, next chapter should be up in the next few days**


	4. Classes and Problems

A/N: Although the story starts with how Lev and Alex arrive at the school, the story will mostly follow Ifrit. He's the one who's the most active and he interacts with pretty much everyone. I just wanted to include the tour so that I could set the environment and introduce a few of the characters :)

* * *

The next morning, Ifrit got up quietly, trying not to wake Gilgamesh. The younger one didn't have a class until later that morning and so Ifrit decided to let him sleep. He did set the alarm so that Gilgamesh wouldn't over sleep thought. He successfully got out of the bedroom without waking his lover, then he went to knock on Diablos' door.

"You coming to class?"

"How do you know I have a class this morning? Did you get into my room too?"

"If I had, you would know it. And I know you have a class because I'm the one who made the schedules this summer. Took me a whole month to make sure some people didn't end up in the same class, and to make sure I didn't have a huge gap in the overall student strength of the group. Plus I had to keep in mind that not all students need the same classes."

Diablos opened the door, books in hand.

"Then why the Hell did you give me a class with you?"

"Why wouldn't I? I have all the reasons in the world to have a class with you. If I was mean I would have made sure we have all the same classes, but I didn't. So don't complain."

"I was just wondering if you decided to give us a class together based on a sexual motive. I guess you did. This clearly shows that you're desperate, but the fact that you refrained from putting us in all the same classes shows that you also have some restraint. Showing your intentions so clearly is a weak tactic. You should have hidden your thoughts and given me a reason such as you had no choice but to give me a class with you because of class availability."

"But I didn't want to lie to you."

Diablos disappeared in a cloud black of smoke. Once he stepped out of the apartment, Shiva linked her arm in Ifrit's.

"Where's your roommate?"

"You just missed him. He decided to take the magic way."

"He didn't like the fact that he has a class with us?"

"I didn't have time to tell him that you're also in the class."

After a moment of deliberation, Shiva shrugged. "I suppose that it can be an advantage. I can take him by surprise."

"Hmm."

Shiva turned around and walked backwards as she looked at Ifrit. "You know something I don't, you can't hide it. You're a fair competitor, you should share with me."

Ifrit shook his head with a smile. "Why should I share with you? _You're_ not a fair competitor, you wouldn't give me information unless you thought I could help you. Anyway, even if I shared, you wouldn't like what you hear."

"Did you get him? Ifrit, you got him?"

"Calm down, beauty. That competition isn't over yet. Diablos is still untamed and ours to fight over."

"Good, you scared me for a moment. Well, since you have an advantage with whatever information you have, I'll just go on ahead and find a seat near Diablos before you get there. Anyway, seeing as you're always late coming in to class, I think it's a good idea if I don't walk the rest of the way with you."

"You're right. I'll be in class…" Ifrit paused and took a look at his watch. "…five minutes after the bell."

"I can't believe you're predicting how late you'll be," said the ice queen with a shake of the head. "I'll see you then."

They parted ways as they exited the dormitory building, Ifrit going off to the right, in the opposite direction from the main building. There was a very good reason why he was always late to class, but it was nobody's business. His dad was aware of it, hence why Ifrit never got detention for being a tardy student.

He made his way to the recreation area -which he now realized he had forgotten to show Lev and Alex- and went behind the equipment shed. He found Eden sitting there, examining a piece of debris. He was entirely covered in dust, which masked the usual metallic shine of his blond hair. He completely ignored Ifrit's presence, even when this one sat down by his side. After a minute of silence, Ifrit elbowed the younger teen.

"I'm not going to class. I need to find more things to destroy," said Eden.

All the Guardian Forces children had traits in common with their namesake, and for some that unfortunately meant having to deal with disorders. Eden felt the often uncontrollable urge to break things, but even this wasn't right. Eden had already destroyed stuff the day before, and clearly he had done so again that morning. He shouldn't be craving destruction that strongly. Ifrit put an arm around Eden's shoulders.

"I know you can control it. You've been doing very well with the MT. Is something bothering you that could cause the cravings to be stronger?"

"No. There's nothing." He took a deep breath. "I'm trying not to let them control me, but it's hard. I don't know if I can make it through class."

In the distance, the school bell rang.

"I can give you two options. Either you go to the infirmary for the day, or you follow me to my classes."

"I don't want Dr. Kadowaki to treat me like a child all day, I think that would just make it worse. I suppose going back to my room is not an option?"

Ifrit shook his head. "In your state you need to stay with someone. We don't need you going berserk, it's too dangerous to your health."

"Alright, then I will go with you."

"Then let's make you presentable," said Ifrit with a teasing grin.

He brushed as much dust out of Eden's hair as he could then they both got up and Eden dusted off his clothes. He took Ifrit's hand and looked up at him with a gentle smile. The older teen was always amazed at how fragile the younger one looked; how small his hands were, how graceful he could be and how he looked like a porcelain doll. Almost looked like a girl sometimes. It all contrasted so much with the violent side of his personality. Needless to say, he didn't inherit the look from his father. Seifer couldn't be further from androgynous. Must have come from the mother no one had ever met.

"You're thinking about me looking like a doll, aren't you?"

"Me? No." He didn't want to say the truth, the last time someone commented on his appearance, Eden had nearly destroyed the building he was in.

Eden rolled his eyes. "We've walked half the way and you haven't said a word. I'm pretty sure it's because you're thinking of what I look like."

"You're not angry?"

"I know what I look like, and I don't dislike it. I used to hate being thought of as delicate, but this summer I've come to realize it's not so bad. What I look like does not change who I am in the least."

"Glad to hear you say so, cause I really like how you look. Kinda makes me think of Squall in a way. You both look rather inoffensive but when you get angry, you're both scary."

"Squall and I make a great pair, don't we," said Eden.

"You kind of do," agreed Ifrit with a laugh, not noticing the dreamy look in Eden's eyes.

Ifrit took his phone out and texted Kiros to let him know Eden wouldn't be attending his classes, then he proceeded to text his own teachers to let them know he'd have a tagalong for the day. Hyne, was he glad that, two years ago, he had convinced the faculty to use texting as a way to keep in touch with the students. It was so much easier this way. Smoothed out a lot of the communication problems.

They got to class and found that two desks had already been pushed together for them. The teacher just kept on explaining the course material, something about unknown numbers, how to calculate them and how they related to real life. As they sat down, Eden immediately stole an eraser from Ifrit's desk. He could destroy it to bits without making noise or being a hazard to someone's wellbeing.

"_Focus the need on a small object, something harmless to you and others,"_ he whispered to himself, repeating what the MT and had told him.

Ifrit rested his arm on the back of the other's chair, occasionally glaring at the few students who shot Eden weird looks. The teacher passed by and placed two copies of the work on their desks. Eden looked up.

"Why two?"

"Cause I know you sometimes do Shiva's math homework. So I thought you might enjoy giving this a shot while you're here."

"I don't do her homework," denied the 16 year-old.

Ifrit laughed gently. "Oh everyone knows you do."

The teacher nodded. "And Shiva is well aware that when I grade something you worked on, I put it in a file for you and those grades will be yours when you actually take this class."

"Cool," said Eden, temporarily putting aside the eraser to start looking at the equations.

In between doing equations, Ifrit would glance at Diablos, who was stuck between Shiva and a window. One could only guess what Shiva was telling him. It was surprising how remarkably calm the space-bender was. He kept on tolerating the Ice Queen's flirting until the very end of class, when she crossed the line.

"Oh Hell no," whispered Ifrit.

"Uh?" questioned Eden.

"Your sister is suicidal. She's molesting Diablos."

Eden turned around, wide-eyed. Shiva was running her hand on Diablos' leg, and this one's anger was clearly building up. The teacher finally noticed what was going on when a the students all started whispering.

"Shiva, hands to yourself."

She looked up, ready to complain and Diablos took this time to disappear in a cloud of black smoke. Ten seconds later, Ifrit's phone was buzzing, indicating a new text. What it said did not please the redhead at all. Luckily the bell rang just then.

"What was the text about?" asked Eden as they walked out of class.

"It was Doom. Phoenix vanished in a cloud of smoke pretty much at the same time as his brother. Diablos must have taken him."

"Are we going to go look for him?" asked the younger one, almost hopeful.

"We wouldn't find him. And anyway you know Diablos would never hurt his brother. All we can do is wait for them to show up. For now you and I are going to English class."

* * *

A/N:

More family info :)  
Shiva (and Siren) are Squall and Seifer's girls. (Now, about Ifrit's earlier reference… which one is Bitch and which one is Bitchier is up for interpretation, lol. And I guess it depends on how the ladies act that day.)  
Eden is Seifer's child, mother is unknown.

And come on people, don't be shy, comment! Lol. It is starting to be lonely. Heck, I'd even take a comment like "Ew, you made an allusion to old men sex in the beginning!"  
-Old men are allowed to have a bedroom life too you know ***points out Kiros* -**  
Of course, I'm not denying that. I'm just saying that if that's all someone has to say, I don't mind hearing it, at least it would be a comment.  
- ***Laguna pouts*** And I'm not old!-  
- ***Rolls eyes*** Oh no, we're still 27, Squall doesn't have 17 year-old twins girls, and we don't have two almost-grown-up boys.-

Well, by the time Laguna stops pouting, I should have a new chapter for you all :)


	5. Can't I have a break?

**A/N:** I'm going to cry, no additional comments despite my best efforts to get you all to say something  
*cries* *looks up to see if anyone is buying it* Not working, uh?

At least try to review and tell me who you think Griever's brother is. Don't wait until I actually give the answer! Lol

* * *

Ifrit sighed in relief when the last class of the day ended. At least now he didn't have his teachers on his back. He hadn't been able to pay attention to the work, still worrying about Eden and also about why Diablos hadn't come back with Phoenix yet.

"_Now_ do you think I am well enough to go unsupervised?" asked Eden.

"Are you feeling any better? And don't lie to me now."

Eden crossed his arms and started walking towards the dorms. "Then I guess you will have to come with me to see if Min is in our dorm and willing to keep an eye on me for a bit. Cause I'm still not going to the infirmary," said the teen, clearly irritated at this point.

They didn't even have to reach the dorms before they found Eden's roommate. This one was arguing with his brother.

"But mom said we could go to the Esthar Museum this weekend if we wanted to, ya know."

"We're not going to some stinky old museum. I want to go to the armory, check out the new weapons they got. Mom doesn't come over for the weekend often, and she's got clearance for the armory," said the younger, and taller, one.

"But Sekhmet…"

Sekhmet glared up at his younger brother, effectively shutting him up. "You can go see your museum next weekend when dad is the one who comes. Plus, don't you think Mona is going to like the armory better?"

"Ok, armory it is then."

Ifrit would have rolled his eyes at the display, those two really sounded too much like their parents. Fujin could get Raijin to accept anything, just like Sekhmet could make his brother do whatever he wanted. Although, the teen tended to take it much further than his mother would, which on occasions made it problematic.

"Hey Brothers," greeted Ifrit.

Eden said nothing and simply went to take Minotaur's arm and rested his head on the other's shoulder. Minotaur wasn't as slow as people would first think him to be and he immediately understood what was going on.

"I'll keep an eye on him, ya know. No problem."

"Alright, then I'm off. Be nice to your brother, Sek."

"I am!" protested the teen as Ifrit walked away.

Ifrit was going to stop by his room and change so that he could go relieve some tension at the gym but, as was often the case, something came up to change his plans. He almost jumped out of his skin when someone touched his shoulder. But as the shock passed, he knew it was Siren. She was the only one who could sneak up on him like that.

Shiva's twin sister smiled briefly and took Ifrit's hand. "Come," she said, motioning towards the secondary building.

"So where are you bringing me? Gym, Cafeteria?" he tried to guess as they walked.

She simply shook her head to indicate that neither of his guesses was correct. They entered the building, and as they passed the gym they saw Cactuar lurking around the locker room again.

"MOVE!" shouted Siren, making the teen run away.

She didn't speak much unless she had to, and she could also compete with Fujin when it came to screaming sentence fragments. You would hear her speak in a normal voice only if she liked you, and if you were lucky. And she liked Ifrit, once joking that he was her favorite uncle, so he did get the honor of having a conversation with her from time to time. But just now she seemed to want to keep him in the dark about where they were going and why.

"Infirmary? What are we doing here?" he asked when they stopped in front of the glass doors.

She led him inside and instantly they could hear a male voice using every swear word imaginable, and a female voice trying to calm him down. Ifrit recognized both and went to the examination room where the argument was happening.

"Doom, shut it!" he ordered his brother.

Then Ifrit noticed Phoenix, thankfully seeming to be fine, sitting on the other side of the room.

"Out. Out the both of you," said the doctor, pointing at the door and glaring at the two brothers. "How am I supposed to do an examination when people keep bursting into the room, hmm?"

"But-" started Doom.

"No buts, you will leave as I have asked you to do a million times already! You can talk to him once I am done."

Ifrit took his brother by the shoulders and led him out to the waiting room. Siren was already gone. They sat down and Doom swore under his breath for a little while longer.

"I know poisons better than anyone. I should be allowed to talk to him first, to make sure Diablos' smoke cloud didn't affect him. You know the smoke sometimes has traces of toxins in it. Phoenix could have inhaled some."

"He seemed fine to me."

"Yeah, well some toxins won't have any symptoms at first. Plus we have no idea where they went."

Although he did agree to some extent, Ifrit didn't say so to Doom. It would just cause his brother to burst into the examination room again, and Ilya would have his head.

"Waiting ten minutes will not kill him. And Ilya knows what she's doing."

"Yeah," agreed phoenix. "Gee, it's kinda warm in here."

"I don't feel it."

Doom got up and instantly felt better. Walking away from the bench, the temperature became a tad cooler as well. Suspiciously, Doom came back to the bench and touched his older brother's forehead.

"It's you. Tone down the heat before you end up burning the place down."

"What are you talking about? I haven't done anything to my body temperature."

Doom rolled his eyes and went to snoop in the jars behind the desk.

"Where it is it? Stupid thing."

He finally found the specific thermometer he was looking for and came back to sit down. Then he stuck it in Ifrit's mouth before he could say anything.

"Seriously, how can you not realize that your temperature is out of control?" asked Doom once they saw the result. "115 Fahrenheit is high even for you."

Ifrit was saved from answering when Phoenix came out of the examination room. Ilya told the brothers that he had a clean bill of health and if they wanted to take him out to talk they could do so. However, not wanting to be interrupted by some of the classmates that had seen him disappear, they asked the doctor if they could borrow an empty examination room instead. To which she agreed.

"So, where did Diablos take you?" asked Doom.

Phoenix smiled gently. "He took me There. It's more beautiful than I thought it would be."

The brothers looked at each other, knowing that it was one of those things that wouldn't make sense even if they did ask Phoenix what he meant.

"And why did he keep you that long?" asked this time Ifrit.

"Oh, we weren't supposed to be gone that long. He just wanted to get his mind off of things, and we're not really supposed to go There in the first place. But he had trouble getting us back. Somehow the space-bending wouldn't work well and we'd end up right back where we started."

"Where's your brother now?"

"I wouldn't try to go see him if I were you, Ifrit," he answered, eyes widening ever so slightly. "He's back in his room, but he's in one of his moods. I know you're roommates, but don't go to your room yet. Not unless you want stuff to happen."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"Stuff," was all Phoenix would answer to Doom's question.

He then got up and left the room, whispering to himself.

"That was odd."

"No kidding. And I was going to go change and go to the gym before Siren brought me here. I guess I still can't do that," sighed Ifrit. He still needed to get rid of some tension, now more than earlier.

"Well, I _borrowed_ a set of your gym clothes when we were packing last week. I could give it back to you."

Ifrit raised an eyebrow. "You know, I should give you a lecture for this borrowing habit of yours. Wouldn't happen to be my rock climbing clothes by any chance? "

"Yeah, haven't gotten around to buying myself suitable clothes for that yet."

***Scene Change***

Ifrit was almost to the top of the rock climbing wall when he heard someone call his name. He made sure he had a tight grip before he looked down.

"What?"

"Shiva says she needs to speak to you," said the gym teacher.

Ifrit sighed and climbed the rest of the way, pulling himself up on the ledge. It was large enough for him to sit comfortably, even though the harness was a bit of a pain. But this was exactly where he wanted to be.

"Well, tell her she can wait. I'm staying up here a couple of hours. And if anyone else asks for me, turn them away. Even I deserve some time off!"

The teacher went off, and soon enough Ifrit's phone was vibrating. He never turned the thing off, in case some emergency came up. But this time it was just Shiva, and her text was less than civil. Apparently she had gotten wind of what Gil had seen Chaos doing the day before, and she wasn't pleased that Ifrit had kept the information from her. It gave him a good laugh.

He put the phone away and saw that someone else was climbing the wall. Without a harness. The fifteen year-old reached Ifrit in record time and also took a seat.

"Show off," said Ifrit. "So how is it going, Babymut?"

Bahamut glared at him. "Stop using that ridiculous nickname."

"It's not ridiculous, it's cute. What are you doing up here?"

"I'm here to enjoy the scenery, what else? It's surely not for the company."

Bahamut was kind of anti-social, so him coming up when someone was already there was out of character. Something _must _have been bothering him, but prying wouldn't yield any results. He'd talk when he was ready That ended up being ten minutes later, while Ifrit was watching the guys' basketball team practice.

"I wanted to find out who my biological father is, and I've been doing research secretly for weeks. Dad found the papers I've printed. I think I hurt his feelings. He probably believes that I think he's a lousy dad, but it's not the case. I suck at feelings! I don't know how to make it right."

"Shit, is that why Ward is being a total ass lately? You'll just have to suck it up and talk with him… or whatever you want to call that silent communication style he, Squall and Siren are masters at."

"I'm not having that conversation with him, spoken or silent. Get your dad to speak to him. Please. I don't have a way with words, I'll just end up hurting him more."

"A genius who doesn't have a way with words? How odd!" teased Ifrit with a small laugh.

"You're a jerk. Don't know why I bothered coming up here."

"Come on, I'm not so bad. Don't jump on your high horse, Babym-"

Bahamut's eyes were instantly shooting daggers. He grabbed the rope that was attached to Ifrit's harness and started to choke him with it. Luckily he always lost a lot of his focus when he was angry and Ifrit had no problem freeing himself.

"Diablos would have a hissy fit if he knew you were choking me. I'm pretty sure he's the only one allowed to do that."

"Always have something to say, don't you? You're an ass. I don't want your help after all. Go to Hell."

* * *

**A/N:** Bahamut is Xu's kid, father unknown. But Xu was killed during a mission when Bahamut was 5, so Ward adopted him.

Doom is Ifrit's brother, but with Doom, Kiros was the _mother_.

Minotaur and Sekhmet (the Brothers GF) are Fu and Rai's boys.

**I promise, I am going somewhere with this :) I'm building it up to some event. I even dropped clues in the storyline.**


	6. We have a situation

**A/N: I have not forgotten about the story, I'm back :) I know, I've been slow coming out with this chapter. Sorry, it just didn't want to leave my brain! Lol, kinda like when you're asked a question and you know the answer but you just can't seem to come out and say it.**

**Congrats, unknowngirl666, you guessed it right. And thanks for the review :)**

* * *

Three days of relative peace and quiet had just passed and now it was the weekend. Ifrit had been pleasantly surprised to only have to deal with two minor incidents; the Brothers creating a localized mini-earthquake while arguing, and Quetzalcoatl shorting out the lights in the cafeteria by accident.

Little did he know that things were about to pick up again. Odin sat on the bench with Ifrit, shielding his eyes from the bright midday sun.

"Your temperature is up again," noticed Odin after a minute or two.

Again? So he knew about the previous time too. Ifrit sighed, Odin always seemed to know everything that was going on around school and sometimes it was a bit annoying.

"Yeah, so?"

"Your temperature getting out of whack, Diablos having trouble space-bending, Eden not being able to control his urges, the Brother's earthquake, Quetz and the cafeteria lights… Don't you find it odd that so many are having trouble with their abilities?"

Ifrit looked thoughtfully at Odin. "I never actually made the connection. I've been looking at each event separately. You think something is wrong with us?"

"I'm not sure. I just know the troubles aren't over, I can feel it."

While Gilgamesh had inherited his mother's gift of sensing, and sometimes seeing, the past, Odin was able to do the same with the future. But no one knew whether the twins were able to send people through time like Ellone had done before, because they had never tried. And not being very used to their abilities in the first place, when they did sense or see something it was usually important.

"I'll take that as meaning there is something really wrong. Now we find out what's causing the problem and we fix it."

"Just how do you plan to proceed with this plan of yours?"

Ifrit waved the question away. He didn't know what he was going to do, he didn't even know where to start. Scratch that, he knew exactly where to start.

"The others should be told about this, and so should all of our parents. We need an emergency meeting."

Ifrit had made the decision not to tell anyone else about the situation until the meeting took place. And that included Kiros. Of course, Odin had found that ridiculous, saying that as principal he should know immediately. But Ifrit was adamant. A worried Kiros meant that everyone would know ahead of time and panic would ensue.

So they had at least told him that they were planning an important meeting and that they were going to invite the parents, but nothing more. Ifrit and Odin took care of making the phone calls. Quistis was the only one who had not agreed to come, which was not a surprise. But they couldn't very well leave her out of this, so Ifrit set up _transportation_ for the woman. It was a stroke of luck that everyone was able to shuffle around their schedules. They were able to set the meeting date to the following Monday evening.

* * *

"So when's everyone else arriving?" asked Irvine, feet propped up on the table and one arm around Selphie's chair.

Kiros, standing by the door, glanced at his watch for the fifth time in ten minutes. "Within the hour."

Cactuar was also seemingly impatient, bouncing around the room like a rabbit on speed. The usually very calm Tonberry was finding it rather annoying, and he caught his brother`s arm the first chance he got.

"Would you sit down? Mom looks just about ready to jump out of her seat and join you in your bouncing. I can barely handle you jumping alone, I'd go crazy with the both of you doing it," he hissed.

"Berr? What's wrong honey?" asked Selphie. "You can usually tolerate stuff worse than what your brother is doing now. Is school being a bit too stressful for you this year?"

"School's fine, mom."

Laguna, Doomtrain, Ellone and Gilgamesh came in next, the last three taking seats and saying quick hellos to everyone. Laguna just went and hugged Kiros from behind and rested his chin on the dark-skinned man's shoulder. He was clearly pouting.

"He wouldn't stop talking about you not wanting him to come live at the school. Why not just offer him a teaching position? Then the kids wouldn't find his presence odd," said Ellone.

"I'll think about it."

"You better say yes. Or I'm ignoring you until we're grandparents," said Laguna, his pout not improving.

This got Doom to laugh. "Like you could go without him that long."

"Shut it Doom, I could so do it!"

Laguna was spared a reply from his son cause Ward and Bahamut came in. They'd heard part of the conversation as they had been just outside the door.

"You're acting like a teenager," said Bahamut, Ward agreeing with a firm nod.

"I like my men youthful, why do you think I married him?" quipped Kiros in one of the rare moments where he would joke about his love life in front of a group of people.

"This better start and end quickly," warned Bahamut.

Suddenly they could hear yelling from down the corridor. No question there about who it was.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS STUPID MEETING! I'M GOING BACK TO MY ROOM, LET ME GO MINOTAUR!"

"QUIET!"

The group of five soon came in, Minotaur letting go of his sister only once they were by the table. Gilgamesh leaned over to Sekhmet when this one sat down.

"You guys never told us your mom was pregnant again."

"SHUT UP," was Fujin's reply as she overhead the comment.

"I was simply commenting on how the glow of pregnancy suited you very well."

Fujin seemed ready to punch the lights out of Gil, but Raijin made her sit.

"He didn't know, let Sek explain to him, ya know, and he won't make the mistake again."

"Never mention the pregnancy, dude. Hormones are messed up, and if you make allusions to her being pregnant, it _will_ be your funeral."

"Oh, ok then. I'll keep my mouth shut."

The next time the door opened, Griever was heard complaining.

"My hair is just fine, mother. Let go. Do that to Cerberus, he's the one with the dishevelled hair."

"But I can't, he's glued to your father," said Edea gently, keeping herself from laughing.

In fact, the doorframe was not large enough for two, and Cid had to come in sideways to accommodate the fact that his youngest wouldn't let go of him. Bahamut made a comment along the lines of _'such a baby'_, and Cerberus reacted instantly. He let go of his father and faced the other teen, rage burning in his eyes.

"Did I hear you say something?"

"Griever, control your mutt of a brother."

Ward crossed his arms and gave Bahamut a warning look.

"But he is!"

Edea pulled Cerberus away, which calmed him down. But she did worry about the rapid change of his mood. It was normal for him to show what sometimes looked like multiple personalities, this being the influence of his three-headed namesake, but such a small comment didn't usually cause a change in his mood.

"We're here! Where's the food?" were Zell's first words as he entered the room.

Lissy just shook her head, smiling, while Quetz and Carbuncle went to find a seat.

"The buffet is in the other room. Ifrit thought it would be better to eat after the meeting and not during."

"But there are hot dogs, right?"

"Of course, we made sure there was just for you."

"He better be sharing with me," said Carbuncle.

"Well yeah, what kind of father would I be if I didn't share the hot dogs with my son?" said Zell in his defense.

"He talking about hot dogs already?" asked Ifrit as he came in, followed by an entire army.

Well, the army was Shiva, Siren, Eden, Odin, Leviathan, Alex, Phoenix… and a very unhappy-looking Diablos. The only reason he wasn't trying to rip someone's head off was because his brother was holding his arm and guiding him to an empty corner of the room.

"So Ifrit didn't want us to wait downstairs for our parents. Why _have_ you been acting all secretive whenever someone asks a question about this meeting, anyway?" she asked Ifrit.

"Hey, don't question what I do. I'm an adult, I know what I'm doing," he said, waving the question away.

"I bet our mom's not going to be there," sulked Alex.

"Well that depends."

"You convinced her to come?" wondered Lev.

"No. But she might still come."

And in walked Quistis, followed by Squall and Seifer. She ignored everyone and went straight to hug her sons.

"I hope they're not being bad influences on you. I've basically just been tricked, kidnapped even. They think they're permitted anything."

"I wouldn't have needed to lie to you if you had just listened to Squall in the first place," huffed Seifer.

"You told me my babies were in mortal peril!"

"Mom, we're not babies," argued Lev.

The argument between Seifer and Quistis just kept on going.

"And then when I was in the car you locked the doors, told me you lied and wouldn't let me out! That's kidnapping."

"You happy to see your boys?"

"…Yes."

"Then shut up, Quisty."

Ifrit stepped up. "Ok, since we're all here we can start the meeting. I'm sorry for not telling you the point of the meeting when I invited you to come. I didn't want anyone to panic."

Almost everyone frowned at the words. Odin sighed.

"Great going Ifrit, you handle this with a lot of tact. It's simple. It came to our attention that several of us have been having more trouble than usual controlling our abilities. It cannot be a coincidence that it is happening to several of us at once. I have also felt that it's only the beginning, though I am unable to tell what will follow."

"Yeah, so we thought everyone should be warned. So far there's only been minor incidents, so it may not be anything serious, but better to be on the safe side," added Ifrit.

It wasn't surprising that everyone started talking at once, the parents were worried, the teens were wondering why Ifrit and Odin hadn't told them this in the first place. Plus some of them were worried that their parents would take them out of school just in case.

"What did you mean by minor incidents exactly?" asked Edea.

Her voice had the effect of calming the room instantly. Everyone was filled in on who had experienced what problem, and then the discussion turned to what could be done. Ideas were tossed around for almost two hours before all the parents were somewhat satisfied with the plan.

Each teen would have weekly checkups with Dr. Kadowaki, more if necessary. They would be exempt from class the moment they showed signs of losing control and would then be sent to Kiros or Ward who would keep an eye on them. They would work with the MT to see if this burst in abilities could be controlled and if it couldn't, they wouldn't be allowed to use their abilities until a solution was found. And lastly, if any of the teens felt they would be better at home, they would be sent back to their parents.

It did not please all of the teens however, but that couldn't be helped. Their free time would be cut down for a while after all, and no teenager ever liked that.

And once the plan was done, Zell demanded to be shown the way to the hot dogs.

Although Ifrit knew the plan would help prevent anyone from getting hurt, it still didn't help him find a way to identify the problem and fix it.

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**A/N: I can't tell you when the next chapter will be up, it all depends on how well things flow out of my brain. But I will get back to you all as soon as is possible :)**


	7. Isolation and Revelations, part 1

**A/N: Ok, this chapter is smaller than the other ones, but since I hadn't updated in a little while I wanted to get this out to you. Also, I will need to play around with my ideas for the next chapter, so better to give you something small now rather than make you wait for something longer.**

**Hope you enjoy :)**

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It was starting to be intolerable. It had been two weeks since the meeting, and all the precautions that had been decided upon were not making a difference in the least. In fact, they were soon all having so much trouble keeping their abilities in check that most of them hadn't even been able to attend their classes.

Ifrit and Shiva couldn't go anywhere near each other as the exposure to the other's opposite temperature would make them faint. No one could approach Quetz for fear of being electrocuted. There were very frequent earthquakes happening. Eden, Bahamut, Cerberus were public menaces. Odin, Gilgamesh and Tonberry were never seen without weapons. And the list went on.

Strangely Phoenix was the only person who seemed completely unaffected by the others' problems and would often be keeping someone company when the isolation became too hard on morale. Seeing as they were potentially dangerous to the rest of the students, the Guardian Forces teens had to be moved to another location. They had to be transported a few at a time in some cases, to avoid one affecting another. Eventually they all found themselves at the Centra Ruins. It was the only place that provided them enough space while still being far enough from the towns.

Ifrit paced outside in front of the ruins, trying desperately to find the solution that still eluded him. Surely there was something that _could_ be done! It couldn't be hopeless. A knife flew past Ifrit's ear and went to imbed itself in a tree behind him.

"You missed me, Tonberry."

"My aim is always impeccable. That's exactly where I intended it to hit," growled the younger teen, turning his attention to another of his knives, which he started sharpening.

"You scare me, Berr. I never thought a surge in abilities would cause you, and some of the others, to have a change in personality."

"Hmm, not a change of personality per se, it's more along the lines of Eden's urges. We just feel the need to use our weapons. My bad mood is due to my being frustrated over the whole situation. And if you're worried I might throw one of these at you, don't be. I'll only throw them at the tree, or at monsters if they happen to wander too close."

"Good to know."

A flash of light suddenly blinded them. They looked up to see the topmost part of the ruins encased in ice.

"Shiva must have sneezed," commented Tonberry before turning back to his knives.

It wasn't the first time since this had started that Shiva had turned part of a building into an ice cube, but it was certainly the largest occurrence. Ifrit hoped that no one had been in the vicinity, but he couldn't go check for himself, which just added to his already imposing feeling of uselessness. Phoenix came strolling down the stairs and came in their direction. He seemed blissfully unaware of his surroundings and for once Ifrit envied the other's eccentricity. Must be fun to escape from the real world once in a while.

"Do you know what's going on up there, Phoenix?"

"Hmm?" was his first reaction as he pulled himself out of thoughts. "Oh, I wasn't all the way to the top, so I'm not sure what happened with Shiva. I was in the lower section with Siren, Gil, Odin and Bahamut. The twins are sparring. Oh, and Gil now has a few more arms made up of some sort of energy, so he's wielding a lot more swords, but Odin is still winning. Bahamut is surprisingly calm at the moment. Siren is texting back and forth with her girlfriend. It was very quiet there cause Siren is still giving off waves that silence people."

Phoenix went to grab the knife that was in the tree and started carving symbols in the trunk.

"And Eden? Seifer will give me hell if I don't make sure Eden stays safe."

"Last I heard, he was destroying things, and Mona was tornadoing the debris away."

"Tornadoing is not a word," pointed out Tonberry.

Phoenix tilted his head to the side, thinking. "It sounds good for the context. And it is faster than saying _was making the debris fly using a tornado._ I'm keeping the sentence the way it is."

Diablos appeared, looking as pissed as ever. He walked right up to Ifrit, seemingly unaffected by the heat.

"I can't deal with this anymore. Do something," he demanded.

"I want to solve this as much as you do, but I can't think of anything. If we ever get a clue as to what is causing this, then you can be sure I'll do something."

Diablos huffed and disappeared again.

"That's not what he was referring to," said Phoenix.

"Then what's he talking about?"

Phoenix didn't answer, while Tonberry laughed quietly. Either Ifrit was completely distracted by the situation, or he was somehow clueless. Diablos wouldn't wait much longer before taking matters in his own hands. The wind picked up slightly, but it wasn't because of Mona. It was accompanied by a rising noise.

"Ragnarok," said Phoenix, pointing in the direction from which the aircraft was coming.

It didn't take long before it landed. It was Squall and Quistis.

"Hate that thing," said the brunet once he was close enough to Ifrit.

"Yeah, I wouldn't like piloting the thing either. I'm surprised you came, Quistis."

"I'm here because my boys are here, and nothing more," she nearly snapped at him before heading towards the ruins.

Ifrit warned her to watch out, but she probably had already tuned him out. The rest of them started after her at a leisurely pace. Phoenix was the first to answer Squall's silent questions.

"Everyone is relatively fine," He proceeded to tell him where everyone was. "Abilities have gone up a notch, but some seem to have learned to deal with it somewhat. I'm sure you saw what Shiva accidentally did to the top of the ruins?"

Squall nodded. They had reached the lower level, so they were hit with the Silence magic that Siren was giving off. Father and daughter seemed to exchange a quick wordless conversation which caused Squall to frown. He motioned that they should keep going, so they went up.

"What did she say?" asked Tonberry once the spell dissipated.

Squall didn't say anything. The next level was empty and quiet, this was where Mona and Eden had been earlier, so they supposed that they had gone up to check on Shiva. One level higher was where they found Quistis and her boys, along with Eden. The latter went to hug Squall briefly before updating them on the situation.

"Shiva is alright, but really getting tired of having to be cautious and isolated. She's in the chamber where you and the others found the real Odin Guardian Force years ago. Doom and Quetz are somewhere up there too, they're too unstable to stay around anyone at this point."

Quistis huffed, but when she spoke it was only directed to her sons. "I knew I should never have let you two go to that school. Never should have let _you_ convince me to let them go!" She said the last part as she looked at Squall with accusing eyes.

"You would have ignored Rinoa's warning?" he asked.

"Rinoa wasn't all there anymore, and you know it. Been crazy since she was pregnant with Diablos. I went along with her idea of naming our children after the Guardian Forces, but that doesn't mean I believe all the insane bullshit she told us."

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**A/N: Reviews/comments/suggestions are always welcome. I'm currently out of funny ideas on how to beg for reviews... *shrugs* maybe next time.**


	8. Isolation and Revelations, part 2

**I'm here, I'm here! *Jumps up and down* Lol.  
I haven't given up on this story, I promise :) I'm just having a long lasting case of writer's block.  
I know my main idea, and I know some of my plot twists, but some details are not coming to me, and what I do have in my head just isn't coming out :(  
So I'll be coming out with another chapter the soonest I can. This chapter is also a tiny one, and I'm really hoping that next chapter I will be back to my regular lenght.**

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"Take it back," said Phoenix, tensing up.

"No, I'm sorry, but it's only the truth. She lost her mind during her first pregnancy. And when she saw the marks on Ifrit and Diablos she started saying stories about how the Guardian Forces were being reincarnated, that during this year something would happen and that you children would all need to be together. She should have been institutionalized, but no one saw it like I did."

Lev and Alex were both trying to get their mother to shut up, but it was like she wasn't seeing them for the moment.

"She wasn't crazy."

Quistis and Phoenix went back and forth with _yes she was crazy_ and _no she was not_. Phoenix' emotions kept rising, and he became visibly more agitated. Even when Squall tried to gently lead him away he wouldn't listen. But Quistis was not helping the situation either. Sticking to her belief of Rinoa's insanity, she wouldn't let Phoenix have the last word.

The teen suddenly began to glow faintly, and it was as if he became blurry, like they were looking at him through fog. Only this fog was slowly taking shape.

"I am not crazy! I never was!" exclaimed Phoenix, but his voice was mixed with another one, which the two adults immediately recognized.

And they also now saw the owner of the second voice in the fog. But as quickly as she had appeared, Rinoa's likeness faded and Phoenix fell to his knees. He was crying and shaking his head.

"The Sorceress powers, they were still there. She knew our loss of control over our abilities would happen. She tried to warn all of you but she didn't have time. She knew other things…. but I can't remember, it's already starting to fade, all her memories, her thoughts…"

Squall helped Phoenix up, and although he was dying to ask him how he had made his mother appear –had it even _really_ been her?- he kept his questions to himself. Phoenix had never really seemed to display any ability like the others. This must have been it.

"What do you guys know that you have never told us?" asked Ifrit, keeping a worried eye on Phoenix.

"Not much," answered Quistis. "The Guardian Forces disappeared some time after the last Sorceress War. Just out of the blue one day no one could find them. According to Rinoa you are all their reincarnations. Something important was supposed to happen to you all on this year, I don't know if she meant this or something else."

Quistis looked repentantly at Phoenix "I am so sorry, nowadays I get carried away much too easily. I didn`t mean to hurt you."

Phoenix had already recuperated and was back to his regular self. "I'm not hurt. Surprised at the events mostly."

"All these years I've been such an idiot," realized Quistis.

"Yes, you have," agreed Squall. "We knew you'd come around and see the reality of it someday. Just took longer than we thought."

Quistis smiled sadly. Actually, -even thought she did think Rinoa was crazy - she had believed everything that had been said about the children, and what could happen to them. But in a desperate effort to keep her boys safe, she had always denied all that Rinoa had said. And, convinced that the rest of the gang was against her, she had cut herself off from them. Now she saw that this had been the most idiotic decision of her life.

Now that Phoenix seemed to be ok, Squall was about to go up towards the last levels of the building, and when asked what he was doing, he said he was going to see Shiva.

"You can't go up there. Quetz, Shiva and Doom are too dangerous to be approached right now. I really don't want to be the one to tell Seifer that his husband has turned into a poisoned, electrified, ice sculpture," warned Ifrit.

"…Whatever."

"Don't you whatever me, Leonhart. You're not going up there, and that's that. And you know she's just like Seifer anyway. She won't want you to see her in a vulnerable moment. She won't even see Phoenix and he's the only one who could keep her company without being affected by the cold."

Squall knew it to be true, but it was still his little girl up there and every parental fibre in his body was telling him that he needed to be with her. For a split second he was going to turn back, but in the end logic lost, parental instincts took over, and he went up.

Wasn't long before Doom started screaming for Phoenix to come up, which the redhead promptly did. He came back down, awkwardly supporting Squall, who was already half-fainting from the multiple status effects he had just been subjected to. Thankfully, the Berserk spell hadn't worked so it wasn't hard to guide the man.

"Someone put up one of the tents," asked Ifrit as he tried to cast Esuna. But the spell just didn't seem to want to work and he didn't want to stay too close for long. "Where are the Megalixirs?"

Quistis came and gently pushed him out of the way. Then she cast Esuna. Squall didn't awaken, but he was visibly better, and the faint red numbers that were counting down above his head – the Doom spell – was now gone.

"The dose of Poison was rather high. Esuna probably removed the most of it. What's left won't be fatal but he'll stay unconscious until it gets out of his system. That might take the whole night," said Doom, looking down over the railing, high enough to not be affecting the others below. "Oh, and regardless of what most people think, the Confuse spell is also a sort of poison. That was a medium to high dose as well. If he does happen to wake up before morning, he might be disoriented."

"Then we'll need someone to watch him."

"I'll do it," volunteered Quistis.

Eden shook his head. "You're here to see Lev and Alex. I'll watch him, it's not like I sleep a lot anyway."

Ifrit looked at Eden, evaluating the situation. "Should I ask someone else to stay with you in case you suddenly need to destroy something again?"

Eden shook his head. "The feeling left really suddenly. I don't think it will come back anytime soon."

"Hmm, ok. But call out if you need to leave Squall for any reason. Who was taking care of the tent?"

Lev got up. "Well, I was thinking maybe instead of a tent, he could be brought back to the Ragnarok. So no one actually started the tent."

"Yeah, the Ragnarok is good. Plus you never know when something will happen around here so he'll be safer there," agreed Ifrit.

So Eden, Quistis and Phoenix started leading Squall back down the building.

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**As always, I love reviews/comments/overall silliness :)  
I also accept ideas (I probably won't use them all, and I may adapt an idea to make it fit with my own ideas, but I will credit any inspiration I get from you gals and guys).**


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